By Geri Powell and Tom McClimon
August 5, 2002

On July 26, Conference Executive Director J. Thomas Cochran addressed the membership of the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus at the IACVB 2002 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. More than 700 CEO's and Presidents of Convention and Visitor Bureaus from around the world attended the meeting.

The invitation to address the members of IACVB evidenced the progress made in strengthening the relationship between the Conference and IACVB to promote travel and tourism in our nation's cities both nationally and in the international arena.

In addition to Cochran, the panel "A Global View of the Travel and Tourism Industry" included international industry leaders Peter de Jong, President & CEO, Pacific Asia Travel Association; Jose Antonio Ferreiro, CEO, World Tourism Organization Business Council, and moderator President & CEO Rick Antonson, Tourism Vancouver —Greater Vancouver CVB.

Earlier this summer at the Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting in Madison, Chair of the Travel and Tourism Task Force Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin convened a task force meeting that included IACVB President & CEO Michael Gehrisch, and IACVB Board Member & Atlanta CVB President Spurgeon Richardson to discuss and plan an upcoming task force meeting in Atlanta. At issue is Congressman Mark Foley's proposed legislation that would provide $100 million to promote America's cities to travelers from around the world.

During Cochran's remarks, which highlighted the impact of the metro economies and the Gross Metropolitan Product, he cited the Foley Bill and called on the membership of IACVB to help Congress understand what tourism means to our country and to encourage Congress and the Administration to spend more dollars to promote U.S. destination cites.

Also raised by Cochran in discussing the Conference's legislative agenda was the Conference's support for a Presidential Advisory Council of Travel and Tourism and the importance of working together to aggressively move forward a common travel and tourism agenda. At the recent Annual Conference of Mayors in Madison the mayors passed a resolution in support of the creation of a Presidential Advisory Council on Travel and Tourism.